government as he maces imminent closure with millions of oysters still in the water. and nudists protested san francisco's city hall. how city leaders plan to enforce the new ban. >> complete bay area news coverage starts right now. this is bay area news at 7:00. good evening. i'm marky. it's tuesday, december 4th. it is bay area news at 7:00, and we are on storm watch tonight as more rain rolls through the bay area. here's a look at storm tracker 2. right now the wet weather is con find to the north bay, but it is forecast to spread south across the entire region by tonight. this latest weather system arrives and folks in some areas are still recovering from the last round of storms. this is video from about an hour ago, and the rain started to come down in petaluma.

the russian, napa and petaluma rivers flirted with flood stage on sunday. river levels are now down low. the fire chief in san rafael says they're currently more concerned about potential landslides. meanwhile caltran is hoping tonight's rain will not cause more problems along highway 1 in san mateo county. crews have been working to stabilize erosion at devil's slide following the weekend's storm. one-way traffic controls were in place today after a complete closure last night. now, to the south bay where crews are working to repair a washed-out road in the santa cruz mountains. county officials had hope today reopen road near scotts valley as a one-lane road today. they now hope to reopen the road tomorrow afternoon restoring the road back to two lanes, however, could take months. more storm watch coverage later in this news cast as

meteorologist rosemary orozco has your complete forecast at exactly 7:23. dpo to ktvu.com to track weather conditions any time and click on the storm wauf tab for a lirng to live storm tracker 2 radar: well, the owner of drakes bay oyster company is vowing to stay open. today the family announced it is filing a lawsuit to allow the 40-year lease to expire. jana is live at point reyes where millions of oysters are still in the water. jana. >> well, the national parks plan is to turn this entire area into a marine wilderness area, but the owners of the oyster farm tell me they do not want to see their farm collapse without a fight. >> in rain and blowing wind, workers cleaned the docks at drake bay oyster farm. 30 employees might lose their job if the company is forced to close. today long-time customers came for a final taste of tradition. >> i think it's terrible. i thought it was a really bad

decision to cse the oyster farm. it's been here for a long long time and tradition. >> the owners say they want to stay on this federal parkland so they're taking the u.s. government to court. >> this is washington dc who ignored the will of the people around the bay area. >> kevin got a call from u.s. interior secretary ken salazar last week. the secretary had toured the farm but decided to let the 40-year lease expire on november 30th. the national park service bought the land in 1972. salazar now wants to move ahead with plans kongs laid out then to potentially make it a marine wilderness area, the only one on the west coast outside alaska. >> there are environmental consequences. no doubt if a boat goes across the bay, but there are also environmental attributes given by the shellfish. >> lenny filed a lawsuit yesterday asking the u.s. district court of northern california to set aside and hold unlawful secretary salazar's november decision. the lawsuit also requests the park service grant them a

ten-year special use permit. >> we have eight or ten million oysters out there at different stages of dwropment. if we have to shut our doors in 90 days, all that food has to be destroyed. >> the drakes bay oyster company produces about 40% of the total production in california of oysters and so the outcome of this lawsuit could very well impact the price californians pay at the restaurant table or the market. reporting live from drakes beach. ktvu channel 2 news. >> thank you, jana. once again protesters took off their clothes today as san francisco supervisors gave final approval on a ban on public nudity. as we've been reporting the ordnance stems from complaints about knew diss in the city's castro district. violation of their free speech rights and say they will fight it. >> this is amazing. we are really leading a world battle against oppression. >> i gave this about two years

to run its course and rather than running its course, it got more extreme. >> now, mayor ed lee signs off on the ordnance, the ban would begin february 1st. it includes a $100 fine for each violation. well, the home with cultural ties to san francisco's hippy movement suffered serious damage in a fire today. as lor rain blanco reports it appears the fire in the haight ashbury neighborhood may have been sparked by marijuana growth. >> firefighters cut into the rooftops of two homes in haight this afternoon to stop a fire brewing in their attic. as you can see here in this video from news chopper 2. investigators believe it started near a marijuana grow operation in this green home then spread to the home next door. lieutenant michael caplan tells us its's never a surprise when these go up in smoke. >> all these grows, they bypass pg & e so you're running a lot

of light with no regulation and a lot of exposed wiring and it's been our experience that usually they catch on fire eventually. >> interestingly the home on the corner that was also affected was the subject of a dock meantly done by cbs tv back in 1967 that we found on you tube. the film was about the grateful dead and the growing hippy movement in this area. >> part of the neighborhood is occupied by ordinary people bewildered by what's going on. part of it is occupied by a growing population of hippies. >> because the homes are so old and so close together, neighbors watch with anguish hoping the fire wouldn't spread to even more homes. >> these old victorians are made of red wook wood and they're very dense and very packed together and usually when you see one go, you lose three. it's a big fear of mine. i -- i am always worried about it. >> no one was hurt in the fire but there is extensive water damage in both of those homes so the people who live there will have to find another place to stay for awhile. in san francisco, lor rain

blanco, ktvu channel 2 news. all right. meanwhile a san jose homeowner ys he had no idea what was growing in his rental house until today. >> look at this. oh my god. >> police responded to the home on sandalwood court just around 3:00 a.m.. neighbors had called them. they thought the home was being robbed. officer found the rental had been converted into a full-scale marijuana growing operation. the homeowner tells us he hadn't been inside for some six months. so far there have not been any arrests. software company founder john mechanic after fee has surfaced in public for the first time in weeks. we have pictures in gat maw la city. his attorneys say he is now at a hotel there after sneaking out of neighboring belize where he's wanted for questioning in murder of his neighbor. says he fears persecution in belize and plans to seek asylum in gat gat.

he spent weeks narrating his life on the lamb through e-mails, blog posts and calls to reporters. and we are learning tonight more about the san francisco man charged in an attack on an autistic teen. oakland police say surveillance video from the fruitvale bart station helped lead them to 36-year-old gary steven atkinson. he was charged today with multiple counts including kidnapping and rape. police say atkinson has a criminal record. investigators say the 16-year-old was kidnapped after leaving the fred finch youth center in oakland last tuesday. the injured girl was found on an muni bus in san francisco two days later. state attorney general has the immigration and customs enforcement program known as secure communities is unconstitutional and today she told law enforcement to use their own discretion. >> this will make clear to them that they have the right to release those undocumented immigrants if they believe that 's in the best interest of

public safety in their community. >> secure communities instructs law enforcement to hold undocuments immigrants until ice can pick them up. critics say it clogs jails and nets too many people who are not dangerous criminals. federal regulators have given the green light to disney's $4 billion deal to purchase bay area-based lucas film. there's still no word on formal closing dates and neither company has responded to requests for comment. lucas film founder george lucas is to receive about half of the purchase price in cash and half in newly-issued disney shares. he said he plans to donate much of it to charity. wall street is reacting positively to news of a net fliks deal with disney. netflix stock jumped some 14% on word that the los gatos-based company has secured the rights to stream new disney movies shortly after they're out of theaters. that won't happen, however, till

2016. starz currently holds the right under a deal that expires in 2015. a federal judge has refused to block california's ban on gay conversion therapy. the first of its kind law is set to take effect on january 1st. it forbids licensed therapists from trying to change the sexual orientation from minors. it's the second ruling in two days on the law. yesterday another federal judge handed down a somewhat conflicting ruling. he granted a request by two mental health professionals and a former patient to be exempted from the law while their case is being heard. some middle and high school students in san francisco are being praised for their efforts to end bullying. . >> the wing entry in the bye bye bullying video contest launched in october. today district attorney george gascon announced the winners in each of the three categories.

what is bullying, the effects of bullying and effective ways to respond to bullying. prizes included ipads, giant tickets, and a baseball signed by barry zeto. continue cost firefighters pack a history in an effort to save fire houses threatened with closure. why a reprieve may only be short term. as the real estate market heets up, for sale signs are becoming less common. what that means for buyers and sellers. a new round of rain is falling over part of the north bay and spreading south in time for the morning drive. what you can expect from this latest storm coming up oh, you have a keurig vue brewer? oh, it's great! now i can brew my coffee just the way i love it. how do you do that? well, inside the brewer, there's this train that's powerful enough

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. authorities are reporting at least 74 deaths from a typhoon

in the philippines. officials say about 43 of those were villagers and soldiers who drowned when torrents of water cascaded down a mountain inundating an emergency shelter and washing away an army truck. the regions governor says the death toll is expected to rise as recovery crews search the flood waters and debris. well, now to sonoma county where investigators are looking into what caused a fire that destroyed a home in petaluma. the call came in about 3:30 a.m. at a house near sad ler lane and kaufman road. the house was engulfed in flames. firefighters say no one lived there, but it was filled with items including containers of possibly hazardous material. the yard was also littered with about a dozen vehicles, a boat and a camper. there are no reports of injury. the fate of four contra costa fire houses is going to remain in limbo for at least another week. as rob ross explains county

supervisors put off a decision during a contentious hearing earlier today. dozens of firefighters from county came in on their day off to see if the contra costa board of supervisors would vote to close four fire station. people urged the board to spare the stations in their communities including this fire station situated four blocks away from the shell refinery. >> it is the first line of defense for us against the many mishaps that could happen. >> in addition to the station in martinez, the others earmarked for closure are in walnut creek, lafayette and clayton on center avenue. >> this is going to leave clayton with absolutely no fire stations in our city. >> the stations were marked by contra costa fire officials to save $10 million a year. officials warned that if a partial tax measure failed last month, this would happen, and the measure did fail. >> we're basically at a juncture now where we don't have an awful lot of options available to us. >> fire officials said they made their decision based on call

volume of at each. firefighters say closing the station will increase response time. >> we'll have to reconsider our tactics, maybe not go in because when you -- when you go in to do an interior fire tack, you need to have the necessary backup on the outside. >> the supervisors asked the fire chief to come back with more information on specific stations and possible alternatives. >> it is most likely that there'll be some closure, whether that means full or partial closure, i think it's too early to tell. >> the board of supervisors expected to decide the fate of this fire houses next weevenlth in martinez, rob ross, ktvu channel 2 news. now, to oakland where investigators say a car found burning overnight was probably a stolen vehicle that had not been yet reported. it was about 3:00 a.m. when firefighters did get the call. they found this four-door sedan engulfed in flames on prune street at san leandro street. police say the car had been

stripped of its tires before it was set on fire. well, it's been about four weeks since bay area voters cast their ballots yet in alameda county tonight a recount underway over the outcome of a proposed transportation tax. measures b1 lost by less than 800 votes and more than a half a million were cast. the measure received 66.53% of the vote but needs 66.7 to pass. the measure seeks to raise a half-cent transportation sales tax to a full cent. the money would go towards roads, freeways and public transit. now to the nation's capitol where the fiscal cliff is looming. today republican house leaders made moves to quiet some of the most conservative voices of dissent within their own party. two hard-lying tea party conservatives were removed from the house budget committee where elements of a fiscal cliff deal are to be considered. meanwhile president obama held his ground insigs on higher tax rates for the top 2% of the wealthiest americans. the political wrangling but

a damper on wall street as stocks finished slightly lower in a light strad trading day. the dow jones industrial lost 13, the nasdaq shed 5. shares in oakland-based pandora are plum etting after hours. the internet radio company posted better-than-expected quarterly results but lowered its outlook for the rest of the fiscal year. the company is facing stiffer competition from the likes of apple and microsoft. both companies are launching their own music service. pandora shares dropped 17% after the closing bell. now, numbers and new numbers show home sales in california remain steady, a sign of the recovering housing market, but as john reports, in one bay area community, the supply of homes on the market is as tight as can be. >> tuesday's in walnut creek are normally reserved for real estate brokers to tour each other's available homes, but today the inventory was anything but normal. >> there are very few listings

on the market, and that's causing the prices to rise. >> we toured two of the four available walnut creek properties, a fraction of the normal inventory, because many homeowners are hanging onto their homes. >> there might be as many as 25 homes on the market on a tuesday. >> broker cathy who is showing this home says ayents are being creative to find something to sell. >> a lot of people are back to door knocking and saying have you thought about selling your home. >> this four bedroom home is selling for 765 thousand tlrs. >> as you see we have over 40 brokers that have come through today plus ten potential buyers without broker sgls most people who dropped by were broeshgs but we found this mother and two kids taking a look. >> i think we're going to have to really fight for the house that we fall in love with if there is one. >> all this happens as home sales nationwide has seen increases year over year for 18 straight months. >> everybody benefits from the trickle out economics that that housing brings because when people buy houses, they need other service sdmrs and while

low inventory works in the seller's favorite, broker says buyers also have advantage sgls you have buyers that can get into houses with extremely low interest rates and overall still much better housing pricing than five, six, seven years ago. >> the holidays also contribute to the tight market. one broker says he expects a lot of new inventory come january. >> in walnut creek. i'm john, ktvu channel 2 news. nasa scientists entertain a gathering of physicists in san francisco today with a sound track from outer space. the chirping noises you just heard are not birds or crickets. it's radiowaves from the earth's radiation belt. twin probes from nasa collected the sound along with de tailed measurements of high energy particles. those scientists converging in the bay area to continue to share findings from the mars rover curiosity at the meeting

of geophysical union, officials say the mars rover uncovered hints of clay in the planet's southern hemisphere. as we reported yesterday, the mars soil test also revealed some organic material but nasa says they're not sure if it's native to the planet. an area once off the beaten path is now officially on the grid, and how to flip the switch today. it's going to help power homes. in tomorrow's morning commute could be a messy one. meteorologist rosemary orozco tells us who's going to feel the brunt of the storm that's currently moving in well, well, well.

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. the flip of the switch, silicon valley power this morning connected its first group of so lar panels to the city of santa clara's power grid. sbp has taken an unused parcel of land and turned it into the city's first solar research location. the manufacturing company provide it had thousands of panels which can generate enough electricity to power more than two dozen homes. well, we're with rosemary now and we obviously have some more weather coming in. any comparison to what we saw last weekend because that was heavy. not going to be enough.

>> enough to get us wet. we have watched those showers fall over the north bay on and off throughout the afternoon really staying north of the golden gate but you can see plenty more as you take a look at northwest areas of california have seen that rain continue. i want to slide into some of the moderate rain we're seeing just come up off the coastline there. occidental, gern vil perhaps seeing some light to moderate rain and along i-80 fairfield into vacaville. light to moderate rain reported there. in and out of martinez a few scattered showers at this point and over san francisco we've got some light rainfalling over the richmond district, the mission district. it looks like you are drive a few moments ago, scattered showers over your rooftops, as well. the winds generally light and will remain this way, nothing like the gusts we saw on sunday. winds may pick up 10 to 20 miles per hour tomorrow morning when the front sweeps through. outside of that we shouldn't have any big big big trouble

with the wind. take a look at the temperatures. not too bad. upper 50s, low 60s still. we haven't lost much of that heat we did receive through the afternoon today. satellite radar here you can see this system will continue to sag as we progress into the evening houring and by tomorrow morning most of us waking up with scattered showers by the afternoon those scattered showers will begin tapering off and then we're shaping up pretty nicely for the second half of the week. let's run you through as we move through the evening hours you can see just a few scattered showers. tonight in north bay light rain. tomorrow morning here it is the front moving through bringing scattered showers all the way into the afternoon. we tear away from those leaving us dry by thursday. rain totals anywhere from a quarter to an ifshlg for most areas, maybe an inch to inch and a half for the hills. overnielt lows upper 50s. low 60s and there is your extended forecast drying out. cool mornings for the weekend

but dry and low 60s for the afternoon. mark. thank you, rosemary. lawmakers in washington dc put their differences aside this evening and came together to light the capitol tree. >> three, two, one [ cheering ] . >> tmz is up next. thanks for watching the 7:00 news. i'm marc. good evening

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